Chapter Fourteen
Harry Dresden
I awoke to the phone ringing and Murphy getting out of bed to go answer it. I groaned in complaint for not feeling her body next to me anymore, but pushed myself out of bed anyway. I smiled a bit as I remembered what happened last night. After a long day that I had yesterday, it was nice to have a woman like Murphy to get in bed with. She maybe small, but she liked it rough, and I've gotten use to the size difference by now.
She was on and off the phone in minutes and quickly got dressed. "Rawlins," she said. "Wants me to go take a look at a body."
"On top of what happened at the college and museum?" I asked, making my way to the bathroom.
"Yep, add mysterious death to the list,” she said.
"Happy Halloween,” I said as I started the shower.
"Got that right,” she agreed. “How many more tricks are we going to have this year?"
"Still have today and tomorrow. Plenty of time for the necromancers to come out. And the ghosts. And the Nightmares." She walked by and kissed me as she went to the door. "Call Molly if you need me."
"Will do,” she said. “Good luck looking for ponies."
Ponies. If I remember right, there were still two to find. Then a creature of chaos and his brother. I think the best thing to do now is to follow this Sam is Discord theory. It was all I had to work with.
After my shower, I dried off and dressed in blue jeans, a Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon T-shirt, and my steel toed boots. Before I left, I packed a few things into a backpack, pulled on my duster, and grabbed my staff. I made one stop at Walmart and one at a drive-thru before I went to Molly's place.
I found Molly and Twilight in the living room. Molly was watching Twilight as she practice some magic. "Sup, boss," Molly said as I entered.
"Not your boss anymore," I said. In fact, it was the other way around.
"This isn't fairy business, you're the boss,” she said.
I shrugged as I watched Twilight levitate several objects at once. "Where are the others?" I asked.
"Pinkie decided to throw a party to make up for the one we missed last night," Twilight said. "They decided to have a mini party in the kitchen. What's all that?"
That couldn't be good. I bet this girl could make a little party into a full size one if she wanted. I set the Walmart bags down on the couch.
“Some clothes and coats for you girls," I said. "And food."
"Great," Twilight said. "I'm starving."
I carried the bags with food into the kitchen and saw that the place was not as decorated as I thought. Considering that this girl was able to make and put up decorations on the island, I thought there would be a lot more than a few streamers. Despite that, Pink was having a good time dancing with the other two.
"Hey, girls," Twilight called as she and Molly entered behind me. "Harry's here with food."
"Awesome!" R.D. called.
"Food!" Pink called out as she rushed to the bags.
I pulled out the food, lots of salads for them and a few burgers for me. Molly and the others dug into the salads while I ate my burgers. It was odd. Twilight was using her hands while the other three started by bending over to take the food by their mouths. But when they saw how Twilight and Molly were eating, they started to mimic them.
Once we ate, I passed out clothes, which Dash and Pinkie immediately started to undress out of their pajamas right there. Molly and Twilight had to stop them and push them into another room to change. Fluttershy was so modest, she left the room with some clothes right away.
Dash came out in what I expected her to wear. She pulled on blue jeans and a simple blue T-shirt and sneakers. They were both a little big on her, but she put a belt on, tied a knot in the shirt, and rolled up the pant legs. She also had a blue winter jacket under her arm.
Pinkie also wore what I expected, a long pink skirt and a matching blouse and sweater. The skirt hung several inches past her knees, but it was short enough to see she had pink stockings on underneath. She went with the pink tennis shoes I got her and it all looked to fit rather nicely. She held on a very puffy pink winter coat to complete the look.
Fluttershy didn't seem to know what was best to wear and had on a mix of blue jeans, a yellow sundress that I guessed was Molly's, and a green hoodie on. She had grabbed the white sneakers I had bought and was the only one who grabbed a pair of earmuffs with her white winter coat.
Twilight had put on a purple tee with blue jeans and black sneakers. She had a black heavy coat under her arm and one of Molly's wands in her hand. Like Dash, her clothes were a little too big, but not as big as hers. Over all, they were happy with their outfits.
Molly dressed in all black. Black jeans, black long sleeve shirt, and black combat boots. Knowing Molly, I was sure her boots were steel toed like mine. She also had a black leather coat on and a small bag over her shoulder.
"Sorry about that," Twilight said. "Clothes isn't really a thing in our world except for fashion."
I nodded. It must be because they had fur when they are ponies. Now, they were humans with proportions. They were good proportions too. They could be real head turners, but the fact that they were ponies kind of killed it for me.
We loaded up in the minivan, which now had all the dashboard lights on, and headed out. "Where to, boss?" Molly asked.
"McAnally's," I replied. "Murphy had a theory about this Discord guy and since it's the only lead I have, might as well look into it."
"You found Discord?" Fluttershy said, hopeful.
"It's just a theory," I said. "But if it pays off, I can start tracking him. Molly, can you call Thomas? Have him meet us at the church?" She nodded and pulled out her phone.
She only looked at me once as she spoke into, frowning as I heard static from the device. I smirked a bit before I calmed myself, focusing on "don't destroy cell phones" thoughts.
"If I may ask, Mr. Dresden, what is your theory?" Twilight asked.
I didn't see any reason not to tell her. "There was an older gentleman running around the city the night before you girls appeared. He came to the pub I go to, trying to get answers from Mac."
"He knew Mac?” Molly asked.
"Seemed like it, but Mac wouldn't tell him anything,” I told her. “And Mac just told me to avoid him."
"What makes you think it's Discord?" Fluttershy asked.
"This Sam Singer went to the church and warned Father Forthill that someone might be after the coins,” I continued. “He was suppose to return to the church the next day but never did. Then you girls show up looking for Discord, who you said was suppose to return yesterday also."
"That's kind of a stretch," Dash pointed out.
"Still, it's all we've got," Twilight added.
"Regardless, with everything that's been going on, this Sam guy is involved somehow. Rather he's Discord or Chaogent, or just someone else trying to cause trouble," I said.
"What about Applejack and Rarity?" Dash asked. "Are we just going to forget about them?"
"If you have any ideas on where they might be, I'd like to know,” I said, looking into the rearview mirror at her. “But if we can find Discord, I'm sure he can find your friends."
“I guess that makes sense,” she replied.
“But what if it’s not Discord?” Fluttershy asked.
“We’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it,” I said. “But hopefully Mac will be able to shed some light onto this before we dig too deep. And if he’s not Discord, I still plan to track down this guy and find out what his part is in all of this. By the way, do any of you know his Name?”
I glanced in the mirror to see them looking at each other, confused. “Ummm,” Twilight said. “Discord?”
“Ya, that’s what you call him,” I said. “But what’s his Name?”
“Oh! I know,” Pinkie said, excitedly. The girls all looked at her. “Well, I don’t know his Name, but I know what he’s asking for.”
I growled softly. “What is he asking for?” Dash asked her.
She cleared her throat before speaking very clearly. “My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie,” she said. The girls were still confused, but I smirked. She just gave up something very powerful to me, and she knew it. She wanted me to demonstrate.
I took a deep breath, filled my voice with my Will and spoke her Name. “Pinkamena Diane Pie,” I said, being clear to match the way she said her Name.
She squeaked as she wrapped her arms around herself, shivered violently. “Wow!” she said. “That was very weird!”
“What just happened?” Twilight asked.
“I spoke her Name,” I said as dings started to come from the car. “Names are powerful. Speaking someone or something’s Name can give you control over them. You can summon them or even control them to do what you want. I just gave her a chill.” I looked back at them. “If I knew his Name I could try summoning him or even track him.” The each shook their heads. Oh well, it was worth a try.
“So, what is your Name?” Pinkie asked.
“I don't give out my Name,” I said. “Just know that Harry Dresden is part of it.”
I saw her pout. “That’s not fair,” she said.
“I never asked for your Name. You just gave it out willingly.” I stumped her on that, but she wasn’t too happy about it.
We finally reached the pub as the door ajar chime started to go twice as fast. The girls were getting annoyed with it, just as much as me.
“Harry,” Molly said as we walked down the steps to the pub. “Why did you want Thomas to meet us at the church and not here?”
“The church is the next stop,” I said.
“But why there?” she asked.
I didn’t really have an answer. I guess it made sense to me to have him meet us there. Oh well, it was already done.
I opened the door and stepped inside. Molly and the girls followed behind me as I looked around. Mac was the only one there, cleaning and getting ready for the day. He looked at me and was surprised at the sight of four girls following Molly and I.
He gave us a nod and stepped behind the bar. Molly lead the girls over to a table while I went to the bar. “Alright, Mac,” I said. “I have one simple question for you. And I’m not leaving until I get an answer.” I saw him narrow his eyes. “Who was that man?”
I saw him look from me to the girls sitting at the table. “Who are they?” he asked.
“Ponies from another realm,” I said. “Who was that man?”
He tilted his head in confusion. “Ponies?”
“Don’t worry about them, Mac.” I took a deep breath, speaking each word clearly. “Who. Was. That. Man?”
He growled and looked at me. I took another deep breath, the mantle wanting to pull Mac from over the counter. “He’s an Outsider, isn’t he?” He stared at me. “Is he part of you old group?” I saw him bare his teeth. “The way he spoke to you, you two were old buddies. Is that true?”
“What do you want, Dresden?” he asked
“I want his Name,” I said.
“You know the Law of Magic,” he said.
The law he was referring to was the one forbidding the summoning of an Outsider. Actually, it forbid reaching passed the Outer Gate period. Normally, I wouldn’t risk breaking a law, but if I had to call one Outsider to stop another, I’ll do it.
I heard one of the girls walk over and I looked over to see Fluttershy standing next to me. “Please, sir,” she said softly. “We’re looking for our friend. If this man you spoke with is him, we would like to know.”
I looked at Mac as his stern look started to waver. “Mac,” I said, softening my own voice. “Was he Discord?”
He looked at me, surprised. He looked back at Fluttershy before he sighed softly and nodded. I thought she was about to cry as a smile formed. It made me wonder. Was Discord more than a friend to her?
The other girls walked over as I looked back at Mac. “Alright, Mac, this is the situation,” I said and I started to explain what was going on. He listened, that’s what he was good at.
He rubbed at his neck as I finished. “Is this really the same Discord?” he asked. The girls giggled a bit.
“Do you know where he went?” He nodded. “Where?”
“Church,” he said.
“And we’re going there anyway,” I said with a sigh. “Anywhere else?”
“He was looking for information,” Mac said.
That didn’t answer my question, but I thought about it for a moment. He came here for information. He went to the church to warn them, right? No. He wanted to know if a coin was taken. He was looking for information there also. That’s why he was suppose to return the next day. So, where else could he look for information?
I looked at the girls, not thinking of anything. “Everyone load up,” I said. “To the church.”
“Harry,” Mac said as the girls started to leave with Molly. I looked back at him. “Caution.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Harry,” he said. I frowned, looking at him. “Cowl’s in town.”
“Fuck,” I swore. It wasn’t Halloween without a damn necromancer coming to town. “What the hell is he doing here?” He looked at the door. “Why would he be after them?” He shook his head no. “Molly?” He shook his head again. “Discord.” He shrugged. “Powerful Outsider is in town, of course he would want to take control over it.” He nodded. “Keep your head low, Mac.” He nodded as I headed out.
...
As I drove us to the church, I started to think about this new line of evidence. Sam Singer was Discord. Discord Sam went to the pub, then the church, and sometime after that was attacked by a Fomor and ran into Thomas’s car. Where did he go after that? At least the dinging from the car stopped.
I parked the car in the side parking lot near where the church would receive packages. I’ve been here so many times at all sorts of hours that I just came to the back door whenever I came here. The girls followed behind me as I walked up to the door and knocked. To my surprise, Michael answered the door.
“Harry,” he said. “Welcome.” He then saw his daughter and smile. “Molly. I’m glad your home for a while.”
“Hey, daddy,” she said giving the man a hug. “Sorry for not coming by last night.”
“It’s alright, sweetheart.” He smiled and looked at the girls. “I see the group has grown since yesterday, Mrs. Sparkle.”
“Please, call me Twilight, Mr. Carpenter,” Twilight replied.
“There’s no need for that,” he said. “Call me Michael, Twilight. So, who are your friends?”
“Well, this is Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy,” Twilight said, happily.
“It’s nice to meet you all,” he said. “Come in.”
He let us all in and started to lead us down the hall. “So, Michael,” I said. “What brings you here this morning? Don’t you have a house to build downtown?”
He frowned a bit as he hesitated. He seemed like he was trying to figure out how to explain it. “Well...it seems like all the wood,” he began. “It’s weird. The wood was all replaced with candy overnight.” I glanced back at the girls who all stopped, wide eyed. “Something wrong?” he asked, looking from me to the girls.
“It’s a long story,” I said. “Which is kind of why I’m here. I wanted to speak with Father Forthill.”
“Of course,” he said as he lead us into a too well familiar room. The room was a multipurpose room, sometimes used for storage, other times an office, but most commonly a refugee room. Father Forthill would occasionally take in folks who need to hide out from supernatural beings, usually sent by yours truly. For now, it looked like it was being set up for Sunday class. Forthill was there setting up the room.
“Oh, Harry,” he said as he looked up. “I was kind of expecting you, my son.”
“You were?” I asked.
“After what Michael had told me about his job site, I had a feeling you might come here to ask some questions,” he said.
I rubbed at the bridge of my nose. “Do you know who the guy that warned you about the coin was?” I asked.
“Not entirely,” he said. “I just knew he was an Outsider.”
Really? This damn old man knew the whole time? “And you didn’t think to tell me that yesterday?”
“He requested it to remain a secret,” he said. “But I feel it might be time to break that promise.”
“It might have saved me a lot of trouble,” I said, annoyed. “His name is Discord. And we are trying to locate him.”
“Well, he was suppose to come by yesterday,” he said.
“Right, I know that,” I said. “Did he say where else he was going? Where he was staying?”
“Sorry, no,” he said. “He didn’t mention anything.”
“This is pointless,” Dash said in irritation. “We’re not getting anywhere.”
“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said. “We have to try.”
“Come on, Fluttershy,” she said. “It’s hopeless, we’re not going to find Discord. He’s gone.”
“Don’t say that,” Fluttershy said, raising her voice some. “We will find him.” I guess Fluttershy can get mad when she needed to.
“Stop it, you two,” Twilight said, getting between them. “We’re not helping fighting with each other.” She looked at me. “Harry, you know this city better than anyone, right? If Discord was looking for information, where would he go to get it? News stand? Mayor?”
I growled a bit as I looked at the girls. Then a lightbulb went off. Discord needed information about what was going on around here. Mac was a good start, but there was someone who would know more. Someone who ran this place...and that wasn’t the mayor. “Hell’s bells,” I said and caught a look from Michael and Father Forthill. “Sorry.”
“What did you think of?” Molly asked.
“There’s only one man I can think of who runs this city,” I said. Gentleman Johnny Marcone. The boss of the majority of the organized crime in Chicago, because you can’t call them the mob anymore. I looked at Molly. “Call Thomas, tell him to get here now,” I said and I stepped passed the girls to leave.
“Harry, wait,” Michael said, stepping passed the girls to follow. “What are you going to do? You’re not exactly on speaking terms with Marcone. If you show up, he’ll probably kill you on the spot.”
“He won’t do that,” I said. “Besides, I wouldn’t give him the chance.”
“You’re storming into his estate?” he asked.
“Got that right.” I stepped out of the church and felt the thud hit my chest and I fell back. “Son of a bitch!” I shouted, rolling over and ducking my head down. “Get inside!” I shouted to Michael. He went back in, stopping the girls as they tried to run out. I heard a yell from across the street. It was a female voice and it wasn’t from surprise but from an attack.
I shook out my new shield bracelet I had on my left hand and pushed my will into it. I came up, holding out my arm as the shield formed. I gripped my staff with my right hand and looked at the rooftops of the buildings across the street. A tall woman dressed in a cowgirl outfit complete with a brown hat and long blond hair was kicking at a tall man in black from the roof. The man I recognized.
The man was preoccupied with blocking the woman with his rifle to notice that I was up. I pushed power into my staff and thrust it out pointing at him and whipped it up. “Forzare!” A force of power flew out of the staff, grabbing Kincaid and pulling him up and off the roof, sending him to the ground. It caught him by surprise, but he rolled in the air and landed in a crouch. He lifted the gun at me.
“Arctis!” I shouted, thrusting my staff forward again. The ruins glowed blue as the spell flew out and froze his gun. He quickly dropped it before it froze to his hands. The woman jumped down behind him and kicked at him again. He ducked down and whipped around, sweeping her feet. I lifted my staff and pushed power into it again, but I was surprised. Rainbow Dash rushed him, tackling him with great speed. In fact, she moved as fast as Thomas when he went full vampire. That’s living up to her name.
I rushed forward as she fought Kincaid. She was good too. She could rival Murphy, and that’s saying a lot. She was yelling at him as she attacked, forcing him back. He jumped back and pulled out a handgun, but I was ready for it. “Forzare!” I called and swung the staff up, the gun went flying into the air. The cowgirl took this moment to jump back into the fight and roundhouse kicked him.
I have to give Kincaid credit, he had great reflexes. He jumped back the moment the gun went flying, avoiding the girl’s kick. Problem was, he was out numbered. And it just kept getting worse for him. He jumped back into Thomas. Thomas grabbed him and slammed him into the ground as Kincaid cursed.
“Shit!” he called out. Thomas pulled out a dagger and pulled him up, pushing the dagger to his neck. “Wait,” Kincaid said at the same time I said it.
Thomas looked at me as he held Kincaid there. “I wasn’t going to kill him,” he said. As he spoke, I heard the other girls running over. “Not unless he tries something funny.” Which was a reasonable reaction.
“What the hell, Kincaid?” I demanded from him. “You could have just called.”
“I didn’t want to make it too easy for you,” he said. “Besides, I wanted to make sure you stay dead this time.”
“Why are you trying to kill me?” I asked, though I kind of had a feeling I knew the answer.
“Because you hired me to,” he said.
“Wait, you hired him to kill you?” Dash asked me in surprise.
“It’s a long story,” I said. “Kincaid, I’m calling it off.”
“I can’t do that now, Dresden,” he said. “It’s a matter of pride. You survived. I can’t let this go unresolved.”
“Hell’s bells, Kincaid. Let it go,” I told him. “You killed me once. It wasn’t my doing that brought me back. Besides, I’m too busy to die at the moment.”
“I’ve noticed,” he said, looking at the girls. “A dragonequus is in town.”
“So you come to kill me instead of trying to help stop this Outsider?” I asked him.
“Trust me, Dresden, you would be dead by now if I was really trying,” he said. “I did it once before, after all. I knew you had spells in that duster of yours. Plus, it was clear you had on a vest.”
I glanced down at the hole in the shirt of where he hit me. It was right in the center of the triangle of the logo. Under the shirt was a bullet proof vest, rated for armor piercing rounds. Though thinking about it, he could have easily shot me in the head. No coming back from that.
I looked at Thomas. “Let him go.”
“Harry?” Thomas questioned.
“It’s alright.” I noticed the girls get a little unsteady as Thomas let him go. Even Pinkie seemed a little scared. Kincaid got up and looked at the girls before looking at me.
“Dresden,” he said. “We’ll talk after Halloween. Until then, you best get rid of this thing.”
“Ya, sure,” I said. I watched him retrieve his guns and tucked them away, leaving. I let out my breath and looked at the girls. They all relaxed and started to hug the cowgirl.
“Applejack, what happened?” Twilight asked. “Why were you with that man?”
“It’s a long story,” the girl said with a very strong country accent. “I’m just glad ya’ll are alright. Where’s Rarity?”
“We haven’t found her yet,” Fluttershy said.
“Umm, ladies,” I interrupted. “We better get going. Someone was sure to have seen and heard the commotion. Plus, we need find Discord.”
“What? Ya’ll are lookin’ for Discord first?” Applejack asked.
“We have an idea of where he is,” I said, leading them to the van. “If we can find him, he could be helpful to find your friend.”
“Wait, who are ya?” she asked, looking from me to Thomas.
“Harry Dresden,” I said. “That guy following us is Thomas. And that feeling you’re getting near him is natural.”
I looked at her and saw her blush a bit. “Umm, where’s Hero?” she asked the girls.
I saw Twilight frown a bit. “Well, he’s not here,” she said. “And it’s unlikely that we’ll even see him.” I saw disappointment in the young woman’s eyes, but she nodded, accepting the fact.
“What’s the plan, Harry?” Thomas asked. “And where’s Molly?”
“Probably in a veil,” I said. No sooner did I said it, she came out of the church with her father, putting her phone away. “Or she had a call.”
“You alright boss?” she asked. I nodded. “What happened? Who’s this?”
“I’m Applejack,” the woman said. “I’m a friend.”
“Awesome,” Molly said. “I’m Molly. Nice to meet you. So, that leaves one more girl, right?” The others nodded. “Great. I know where she’s at.”
“You do?” I asked in surprise.
“Ya,” she said. “I just got off the phone with Murphy. Apparently, Mrs. Gard called yesterday and left a message. But Murphy didn’t got it until a little while ago. She said that a Rarity is at Marcone’s Estate.”
“Perfect, we can kill two birds with one stone,” I said.
“Oh those poor birds,” I heard Fluttershy say. “Why would you want to kill them?”
I put a hand to my forehead. “It’s a figure of speech,” I said. “It means we can accomplish two things at once. We can get your friend Rarity back and find out more on Discord.”
“Well, it’s still an awful thing to say,” she replied. I heard the other girls giggle.
“Harry,” Michael said. “I don’t think you and these girls will all fit in the minivan.”
He was right. This party was getting huge. Head count. We have myself, Molly, Twilight, Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, and Thomas. Eight fully grown adults, five ponies, two wizards with some debate if they’re even still wizards or not, and a vampire with a sex drive. It’s the twelve days of Halloween, I tell you. And we still have one more pony and a dragonequus to find. It feels like when I went to Chichen Itza to save my daughter. Except that was Fellowship of the Ring size. This group was getting close though.
I looked at Michael. I wasn’t counting him since he has retired from the fight years ago when he got injured. I couldn’t ask him for a larger ride, but Thomas had a hummer. It wouldn’t hold all of us, but that’s a second vehicle. The problem was, did I trust him enough to have a couple of vulnerable girls with him?
“Here’s the plan,” I said. “Thomas, you take Molly, Fluttershy and Pinkie. I’ll take Twilight, Dash, and Applejack.”
“Great, where are we going?” he asked.
“Marcone’s estate,” I said.
“Awesome, let’s go,” he replied.
“Harry,” Michael said. He looked like he wanted to say something, but shook his head. “May God go with you,” he said instead.
I didn’t push. I just nodded and got everyone loaded up. As I drove, I still wondered if it was wise to leave Thomas with two of the girls. I trust Molly to keep him in line. After all, she knew him for a while and knew how to fight against that power.